Winemaker Notes
This cuvée is immediately captivating in the glass, with an enticing pale golden color and persistent thread of fine bubbles. On the nose there are notes of buttery pastry, meringue and white flowers, underpinned by a zesty freshness. On the palate, the cuvée is mouth-filling and opulent yet restrained. Complex aromas of citrus fruit and brioche balance beautifully. The finish is impressive and seductive with notes of dried peach and hazelnut.
Professional Ratings
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James Suckling
This is really delicious and soft with ultra-fine bubbles and a creamy texture. The flavors are subtle with cooked apple, pear and pie crust. Medium-bodied. Fresh and delicious. So subtle.
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Wine Enthusiast
Crisp apples and tight minerality come together in a satisfyingly ripe wine. It is young, showing its fruity side and only just moving to its future complexity. But this will be a fine, structured Champagne. Drink from 2022.
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
Pol Roger's newly released 2013 Brut Blanc de Blancs is very appealing, unwinding in the glass with scents of crisp orchard fruit, citrus zest, sourdough bread, pastry cream and almonds. Medium to full-bodied, taut and incisive, it's more chiseled than the richer, more concentrated 2012, with racy acids and a gently reductive edge, concluding with chalky grip. This is a real classic in style and should develop beautifully with age on cork.
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Wine Spectator
This expressive blanc de blancs indulges the palate with its creamy, lightly plush texture and bright and juicy acidity, a lovely canvas for aromas and flavors of ripe pineapple and apricot fruit, elderflower, lemon curd and salted almond. Drink now through 2030.
Representing the topmost expression of a Champagne house, a vintage Champagne is one made from the produce of a single, superior harvest year. Vintage Champagnes account for a mere 5% of total Champagne production and are produced about three times in a decade. Champagne is typically made as a blend of multiple years in order to preserve the house style; these will have non-vintage, or simply, NV on the label. The term, "vintage," as it applies to all wine, simply means a single harvest year.
Associated with luxury, celebration, and romance, the region, Champagne, is home to the world’s most prized sparkling wine. In order to bear the label, ‘Champagne’, a sparkling wine must originate from this northeastern region of France—called Champagne—and adhere to strict quality standards. Made up of the three towns Reims, Épernay, and Aÿ, it was here that the traditional method of sparkling wine production was both invented and perfected, birthing a winemaking technique as well as a flavor profile that is now emulated worldwide.
Well-drained, limestone and chalky soil defines much of the region, which lend a mineral component to its wines. Champagne’s cold, continental climate promotes ample acidity in its grapes but weather differences from year to year can create significant variation between vintages. While vintage Champagnes are produced in exceptional years, non-vintage cuvées are produced annually from a blend of several years in order to produce Champagnes that maintain a consistent house style.
With nearly negligible exceptions, . These can be blended together or bottled as individual varietal Champagnes, depending on the final style of wine desired. Chardonnay, the only white variety, contributes freshness, elegance, lively acidity and notes of citrus, orchard fruit and white flowers. Pinot Noir and its relative Pinot Meunier, provide the backbone to many blends, adding structure, body and supple red fruit flavors. Wines with a large proportion of Pinot Meunier will be ready to drink earlier, while Pinot Noir contributes to longevity. Whether it is white or rosé, most Champagne is made from a blend of red and white grapes—and uniquely, rosé is often produce by blending together red and white wine. A Champagne made exclusively from Chardonnay will be labeled as ‘blanc de blancs,’ while ones comprised of only red grapes are called ‘blanc de noirs.’